


Once in a Lifetime

by ObsoleteOzymandias



Category: Minecraft (Video Game), The Lorax (2012), Undertale (Video Game), Video Blogging RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Crack Treated Seriously, Eventual Smut, Happy Ending, I am going to hell, M/M, Multi, Please Forgive me, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-12
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-20 06:14:29
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,573
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30000522
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ObsoleteOzymandias/pseuds/ObsoleteOzymandias
Summary: Dream's love life is far more desolate than he intended - no boyfriend, no girlfriend, not even a crush to pine over. And as he intends to wallow in his own misery, he encounters a myserteous and only slightly intimidating online personality, HotDogger001, who inspires him like no one else can. Add in his childhood friend who recently moved back to their hometown, and Dream may have his work cut out for him. Can he overcome his own anxiety about love and romance? Or will he doom himself to permanent bachelordom?Who fucking knows. I sure as hell don't, and I'm writing this shit.
Relationships: Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF) & Sans (Undertale), Clay | Dream (Video Blogging RPF)/The Once-ler (The Lorax)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 3





	1. Valentine's Day

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, hopefully this goes without saying BUT: this fanfic is for shits and giggles ONLY. I won't sexualize random people over the internet, and so for the sake of my sanity and other people's dignity, Dream is treated as his ONLINE PERSONA. Not the real person. Okay? Okay. 
> 
> ALSO: This isn't a one shot, there are going to be more chapters, I just do not know how to use AO3. I am peak dumbass.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream seeks refuge in the chat of a mysterious streamer.

It wasn't your average Tuesday. Not for Dream, YouTube star and all-around gamer, at least. No, because for him, no day was average. The life of an internet celebrity was always filled with surprises and struggles, and today was no different from any other. But unlike those other days, something stuck out about this one: something so commercially advertised that no one could possibly miss it, even if they wanted to. No, today...was February 14th. Valentine's Day. 

Dream wasn't an envious person - not naturally. He had a lot of respect for himself and others, and so that rippling feeling that most felt when faced with jealousy didn't often find him. He was chill like that. 

Except he wasn't. Not today, and likely, he suspected, not for the next week. Maybe the next month. 

Right now, as Dream stared idly down at his phone, he felt that strange, uncomfortable sensation rise in his chest and up through his throat. Everyone - even his close friends - were celebrating Valentines Day with their loved ones. And sure, he could just hang out with the team as he often did on down days, but he didn't feel up to it. To him, it almost felt mocking, like he was to be pitied. And he hated it. So much so that when his phone rang with notification after notification from his friends, he ignored them. 

Whatever brought on this feeling, whatever made this year different from any other, he needed to get away from it. From everything. To forget, just for a moment, who he was, and sink into a world of other people who were - hopefully - just as miserable as him.

Twitch was his usual haunt, and even in his foul mood that didn’t change. Whenever he felt shitty, he liked to watch some smaller streamers - remember how he was back in the day, admiring his favorite celebrities from the safety of his screen. It was a safe space of sorts, and so he began to feel just a bit better as he scrolled through the main page. His recommended was full of his friends - streaming and chatting and laughing. He was staring to feel off again, until he came across a channel he had never seen before - HotDogger001.

The stream didn’t seem to be anything amazing. The guy didn’t even have a face cam, just a stream from the game he was playing, some wacky indie game with no apparent point to it. Despite the obvious lack of attention-grabbing content, he (or she, or they, Dream supposed) had around four thousand people watching his stream. 

It wasn’t as high as some people he knew, but for what he was seeing, it was ridiculous. And that ridiculousness provoked him to join in on the thousands watching. 

He wasn’t sure what exactly was going on in the stream: the content would change from silent focus on the task at hand, which appeared to be moving a small pixel character around a tableau of flashing tiles, to vivid discussions with the chat about movies and food. It was erratic, yet somehow Dream found himself immersed in the atmosphere. The guy had a nice voice, and even when the conversation was overwhelming, he maintained a smooth, cool tone.

That’s what dream liked the most. The guy’s voice. It was like Morgan Freeman’s, but laced with something addictive and undeniably 10 times better. It was like smooth jazz, and completely and utterly wonderful to listen to. He found himself hanging on to every word the streamer said, though as the hours passed by he still didn’t understand what was going on.

By the later hours of the day, which had passed in a bliss Dream was glad to have lost himself in, he decided to go out on a limb. 

dreamwastaken nice stream :)

His heart beat a small bit faster. Why? He wasn’t too sure. But it wasn’t a bad feeling: rather the opposite, actually. 

A small gap of silence had let him get lost in his thoughts, but when HotDogger001 started talking, his attention was peaked once more. 

“...’Nice stream.’ Thanks Dreamwastaken.”

The reaction in chat was almost instant. Messages that had been coming in at a nice babble before flooded in uncontrollably. 

DoorRat DREAM???  
Xx_gamer_girl_juice_xX yo forreal  
Sh1juul Holy shit  
KCC004 jfc  
Possum_Oppossum Hi dream!!!!  
Your_local_friend MY MANS!!!

Dream was used to fame, but suddenly, he felt embarrassed. He’d meant to be anonymous, keeping the stream to himself like an oasis in the desert of misery he’d been trapped in earlier. But now, viewers were skyrocketing, and he felt something much more unbearable than what he’d felt before: guilt. Shame. 

He was about to leave the stream, though reluctantly, when HotDogger001 let out a low chuckle. 

“Wow. Looks like we’ve got a real superstar in our midst, huh? Hey Dreamwastaken, do me a solid and talk some more. Helps with the views, you know?” 

“Oh.” Dream found himself saying quietly. Oh. He didn’t expect to be acknowledged, let alone encouraged. And some part of him, so used to his fame and its consequences, had almost expected to be shunned and banned from the stream in record time. But no, whoever was on the other side of the screen had laughed, and encouraged him in a way that sparked unbridled joy in him. And that joy sent him on a confidence high unlike any he had felt before. 

dreamwastaken lol sure 

And so he talked. About what, he wasn’t too sure. But he sent out message after message. And by some sort of miracle of nature, HotDogger001 talked back. Soon, the stream was no longer about whatever cryptic games were being played: it was solely focused on the two streamers. 

By the time Dream had noticed the heaviness in his eyes, it was already close to 1 AM. The excitement had died down, a few hundred viewers remaining, and it seemed as though things were coming to an end. The game had stopped long ago, and now HotDogger001 just seemed to be reading whatever messages came through. 

So Dream, no matter how reluctantly, sent his last message. 

dreamwastaken I’m gonna head out. Nice hanging with you tho. 

He wasn’t going to say anything else, he really wasn’t. He had intended to just leave it at that and then fall into a peaceful sleep. But part of him, something lurking right beneath his hands, apparently, typed something else. 

dreamwastaken DM me if you want to stream together :)

The message had been sent before he could even think properly. And so when it showed up on screen, nagging in its bright green text, Dream felt his stomach drop. 

What the hell did I just do?! I barely know the guy - god he’s gonna think I’ve got some sort of savior complex and-

HotDogger001 Already did homie. 

His heart beat faster, an uncontrollable grin making its way to his face as butterflies erupted into his chest. He hadn’t checked his notifications all day, but amongst the hour-old messages was two new notifications. 

TWITTER: 

HotDogger001 started following you. 

TWITTER: 

HotDogger001

Hey


	2. A Guest and a Memory

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An old friend arrives at Dream's place, all while HotDogger still occupies his mind.

If there was one thing Dream hated, it was mornings. He wasn’t a morning person, no matter how you spun it, no matter how awake or tired he was, it was always a pain to wake up in the morning. The comfort of his bed begged him to reconsider as he rose, but he had made up his mind. Today, this morning, he was going to be productive, something he hadn’t been in a few weeks. 

Ever since Dream spoke with Hotdogger001 on Valentine's day, the man had consumed most of his thoughts and time. He didn’t know much about the streamer, yet he understood they had a strangely deep connection despite the anonymity. He felt strange, at first. Even if his face was concealed on the internet, very little else was. Hotdogger001 would likely know cosmos more about him than Dream did about his new friend, which only unsettled him a little. But soon, the streamer had revealed a little more about himself. 

HotDogger001  
22:31  
Dream’s your legal name then, huh?

Dreamwastaken  
22:31  
Yeah. Don’t ask. My parents are weird. 

HotDogger001  
22:32  
Hey dudeski no worries. My name’s Sans. Don’t think I had parents to name me though. 

Dreamwastaken  
22:32  
What????

HotDogger001  
22:32  
¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

Sans. Like zero, or minus. It was a bit of a strange name, but he was the least qualified person to judge others on that. And besides, even if it was weird...it was still a pretty good name. And Dream liked it. 

Memories of those interactions still played on Dream’s mind as he stretched and got dressed. He barely paid attention to his clothing choices and breakfast, mind still consumed. So when the doorbell rang, and he opened it to find a tall, slim, dark-haired man grinning at him, he felt his baggy bright yellow pajama pants and torn old gym shirt constrict around him. His mouth went dry. 

The guy on the other side of the doorway still had a soft yet mischievous smile playing on his lips, which made Dream’s head rush more and more. Who...or better yet, why? 

The man must have seen Dream’s confusion, because by the time Dream was snapped out of his haze the smile had morphed into a frown, and the visitor had moved away from the door. 

“Dream? Come on, man. I know I look a little different but not THAT much. Don’t you recognize me?” His voice carried around Dream’s house like a catchy pop tune, the kind you want to forget but just can’t, the kind that itches right at the back of your head, like you’re supposed to remember something...remember...someone...oh!

Dream’s mouth dropped open as a small crack in the reservoir of his memory suddenly burst at the seams, letting years and years of moments flood into his head. And thus, letting the memory of a scrawny boy with stunning black hair and eyes come too. 

“Onceler?” 

The man on the other side of the doorway smiled, radiant as the memories Dream had of him. When he smiled, it reached his eyes, Dream recalled. And that much was still true. 

Looking over the man, Dream wanted to say that nothing had changed. He wasn’t a fan of change, especially not with friends (or people he used to consider friends, at least). It always made him feel like a stranger, like he wasn’t good enough to keep up with them and now they had moved past him. It was a stupid line of thought, but one he found himself coming back to far too often. 

But Onceler had changed. He was taller now, standing at 6” something, though no less lanky than he always had been. Unlike his younger self, however, he was far more...something. Something that made Dream’s face warm slightly. He was reminded of his clothing choice again. 

“You know it! How have you been, man! It’s been so long!” In a single swift step he was in the house, long, lanky arms and all, wrapped lovingly around Dream. His head rested on Dream’s shoulder, and the streamer couldn’t help but notice the way his friend’s body relaxed. And that he smelled like pine and fresh cotton. But that was neither here nor there. 

When they pulled apart, Dream welcomed his friend into his home. 

His apartment was, luckily, not even close to the messy state that he was in. In fact, it was pretty clean, possibly the cleanest it had been in a while. There weren’t dishes piled up in the sink, nor pillows strewn around the open living room. It looked barely lived in. 

Onceler noticed and whistled lowly. 

“Woooow, nice pad you’ve got here!” He turned and smiled at Dream, “real cozy and clean.”

“Yeah, I guess.” Dream said, “I don’t know what happened, to be honest I’m normally pretty messy-” He stopped. Oh. Okay, maybe he did know why his house looked untouched while his room was a disaster. Maybe he did know why his phone screen had cracked right where a keyboard would be. Maybe he did know why the indent in his gaming chair had grown significantly deeper. Maybe. 

Onceler looked him up and down, eyes tracing the folds of his shirt and the small holes in his pants. He snorted. It was cute. Was it cute? God, did Dream think it was cute? He had to pull himself together. This wasn’t some badly written romance novel. He was better than that. 

“Yeah,” His friend smiled, “I can tell. Nice pajamas, by the way.” 

Dream rolled his eyes, but couldn’t fight the gnaw of embarrassment that bloomed in his stomach, “Thanks. Now go sit down. You want something to drink?” 

“Nah, I’m good.” Onceler sighed, throwing himself down onto Dream’s sofa with an ‘umph!’ He stretched himself out, his body taking up a good portion of the sofa which was obviously much too small for him. Dream smiled, then turned to the task of getting himself some early-morning caffeine. Maybe his weird reaction to his childhood friend was just the lack of awake-juice in him. He’d usually be on his second cup by now. 

The streamer turned on his coffee machine, and leaned back against the counter, waiting for that sweet, sweet ping of readiness. God, he really did need a cup. 

“So…” He started, “Why’re you here? Like, not here, here. I mean in town. Didn’t you go off to some music school?”

Dream didn’t need to see Onceler’s face to know he cringed once Dream mentioned school. Onceler wasn’t exactly a good student, from what he remembered. 

“Ah, you know how it is. They had their ideas about music, and I have mine.”   
Dream hummed, “So they kicked you out.” 

“I didn’t say that.” 

“But you, like, implied it.” 

“...Let’s move on. I decided to come back ON MY OWN, and that’s that. And well...I missed you, dude.” 

“...Really?” The coffee machine pinged. Thank god, thought Dream. 

He heard movement from across the room, then his childhood friend walked into his view. Though Onceler was smiling, something else was in his eyes. 

“I mean...yeah man! I know it’s…” Dream’s friend sighed, the smile on his face faltering as he pulled up a chair from the living room. “I know it’s weird, okay? That we haven’t spoken in so long and that I’m here now...I know that. But I just…I missed you.”

Dream couldn’t help the rough way he exhaled. Onceler was never a serious guy, but seeing him like this now made Dream think he was talking to a whole new person. The kid he knew growing up, the loud and opinionated boy across the street who always wore this stupid pin-stripe sweater and who never failed to make Dream laugh, that boy, was gone. Even the angsty teenager who had left their hometown to pursue music somewhere brighter was fading away, and in their place was this stranger who rested uncomfortably in the uncanny valley of Dream’s mind. He was still loud, but also far too solemn at times. And he wore a pin-stripe vest, showing off his thin arms and biceps. He wasn’t the same. And Dream hated it a small amount. 

The fact that they had parted somewhat bitterly didn’t help ease the tension either. 

Dream didn’t want to admit what he was about to, but some part of him, maybe the part of him that still pined for his childhood friend... and crush… forced the words outwards. 

“Yeah, I missed you too, Onceler.”


	3. Complex

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dream wonders if his friend actually missed him.

A week had passed since Onceler came back. A whole week, in which Onceler had not only acquainted himself well with Dream’s couch, but also had never left Dream’s apartment. The first night it was almost a given: he’d stayed the entire day, and the two seemed hesitant to part, so Onceler had stayed the night. The second day was a little less excusable. And every day that followed became more so, until Dream found himself in his kitchen on a Monday morning wondering if he’d been played. 

It’s not that he didn’t trust Onceler. Dream had seen the highs and lows of his personality, and knew that despite his friend’s greed and general seedines, he really was a decent person. But he also knew about that greed and general seediness, which, given Dream’s old habit of being a slight pushover, made him think that maybe his friend didn’t miss HIM as much as he missed having a bed to sleep on. 

A sigh escaped Dream as he made his way over to the living room, two cups of coffee in his hands. 

Onceler was barely awake, rubbing his eyes and mumbling something incoherent as he took one of the mugs. His hair was messed up, sticking out at all sorts of angles that really didn’t help the discomfort in Dream’s stomach. 

That was another thing: the butterflies hadn’t gone away. Dream had figured out his feelings pretty early on in the week, but that didn’t make the realization that he was STILL in love with his best friend any less tortuous. He thought back to when he began to feel this, to when they were young and stupid, and to when he believed that he was destined to be with Onceler, and found himself cringing. He REALLY didn’t want to go through the heartbreak and pain that came with emotions like that, not again. 

But he really couldn’t help the blush on his cheeks when he realized his friend was half naked. And that he had abs. Lots of them. 

“Mmmm...morning’ Dream.” His friend yawned. His eyes opened groggily, black pools finding Dream’s face, and slowly focusing on it. 

“Morning Once. Listen, I have to talk to you about something.” Onceler raised an eyebrow, a devious smirk crawling onto his face. 

“Sounds really serious. You gonna propose? Get down on one knee and all?” Dream pursed his lips and smacked his friend on the naked back, causing him to choke on his coffee a little. He didn’t want Onceler to see the blush on his face. 

“Come on, knock it off. I’m serious. I gotta talk to you.” Once the choking and swears calmed down, Dream shifted back in his chair, body sagging. Onceler’s eyes were on him.  
“Okay, listen. I...I missed you too, okay? I did. And I do. And I’m really glad you’re here right now but...Onceler, do you have...somewhere to live? Here, I mean. Because you’ve just been crashing on my couch and…” There was an immediate shift in the room. Rather than the laid-back and also partially naked Onceler that was lounging on Dream’s couch before, he was now putting on his shirt, and sitting in a strained up-right position. He wasn’t looking at Dream anymore, just the white buttons weaving in between his fingers. Oh god. 

“...Once?” 

Onceler momentarily stopped his fiddling, only then to look up at Dream with a completely indescribable look on his face. 

“No.” 

“No?” Dream asked. Once sighed heavily, annoyance stiffening his shoulders more than Dream thought was possible. 

“No, I don’t have a house. I just don’t, okay? I’m sorry, but I had to get out of that fucking place. I couldn't stay there anymore, Dream. They were tearing me apart. And I thought of you and I had to come back but I just- AUGH!'' There was another thing that Dream considered to be a minor one of Onceler’s flaws. Except now, it wasn’t seeming so minor. 

Anger. 

Anger that often spooked Dream as a kid. He wasn’t a coward, but when Once got angry, he could get REALLY angry. Except now, Dream wasn’t a kid. And he knew Onceler could get real defensive real quick. 

“Once, I’m not upset, I understand that you-” 

“No, come off it man. You are. You’re bothered by it, otherwise you wouldn’t ask. I’ve been a burden, I know. But I’m struggling to make ends meet and I can’t...I can’t…” Dream’s face softened along with his friend’s tone. He reached out, hand barely grazing his friend’s shoulder blade before it was pushed away roughly. Onceler stood up in a rush, barely clothed but still wearing his trademark fedora, grabbed his bags that had been scattered all over the floor, and strode towards the door. 

“Once-ONCELER! Where are you going?!” 

Dream’s friend whirled around, facing him and gritting his teeth, “I’m leaving. There, I won't be a problem anymore, right? I won’t be an inconvenience. Out of your hair, right? That’s what you want.” 

“Once I didn’t-”  
“Whatever! Bye, Dream.” In two quick steps, he was out the door, then slamming it behind him. It took a minute for Dream to process what had just happened before he was barreling out of his apartment after Onceler. A strange orange-stripped RV caught his eye, along with the disheveled man in its drivers seat. 

“ONCE-”

The ignition lit, and the van pulled out, almost rear-ending another car behind it before driving away a good 20 over the speed limit. Dream watched it rush down the street until it was out of sight. 

Dream inhaled, then let it all out the best way he could. 

By yelling “WHAT THE FUCK” as loud as he could in the middle of his apartment complex’s parking lot.


End file.
